Alicia Peyton cruises to seat on bench, ousts Jeff Ashton

Alicia Peyton, a native Orlando attorney with broad community involvement, cruised to victory, winning a seat on the judge's bench in the 9th Judicial Circuit and ousting well-known incumbent Jeff Ashton.

With the vast majority of ballots counted, Peyton, of west Orange County, won 64% of the vote.

In August, she also won the highest share of the vote in the August primary, with 48% of ballots, compared to Ashton's 31%.

She mainly handles trials and civil litigation for King & Markman.

Peyton vastly outraised Ashton, with $256,000 in her campaign account, compared to Ashton's $7,845, which he self-funded.

Ashton rose to fame as one of the prosecutors who sought – and ultimately failed – to gain a murder conviction of Casey Anthony, a mother accused of killing her daughter Caylee.

He later won a single term as State Attorney, and then was elected to the bench as a judge in 2018.

But a state panel that investigates complaints against judges found in October that Ashton displayed "inappropriate conduct" on the bench by showing bias against some attorneys. The commission cited a "pattern of misconduct" in his work.